Almost all of these powers seem too complicated and don't acheive anything perticularly useful or original to be worth it.
Take the pegasus, why would it matter if they are female and why have 2 completely different abilities.
Also the term Jihad is racialy offensive, and not realy very appropriate.

@the rest of the forum.
There are some great ideas going around, the issue with some is that they are complicated, but the vast majority are original enough to make the minor confussion worth it.

While Phenexian's comments do come across a bit harsh, I agree that leaving a site over one comment is pretty silly. In the creative world you must realize that when you "put yourself out there" in a country where free-speech is how we roll, you're gonna get criticism.

You will also have fans of your creative work. But you've gotta stick around until they discover your contributions. I think this thread is no different.

My advice is: use the criticism to hone your ideas (if it's specific) if it's just general "hating" then let it roll off. Meanwhile, Enaglio, if you're still haunting this thread, there's a lot here that's praiseworthy!

I always thought like Phenexian, that all new contributions to Smallworld should attempt to maintain the elegant balance designed by Mr. Keyaerts. My best friend Mike disagrees with me. When we were discussing the "Be Not Afraid" expansion some of which seemed quite under-powered and some of which seemed too powerful. Designs like "Peace-Loving" and "Dwarves" are great examples that under-powered powers/races are PART of the game. "Priestesses" prove that not every idea has to be simple. As Mike said, "The way Dwarves, etc. balance the game is in the choosing lineup." "Imperial-Skeletons" will sign their own death warrant easily enough we've found. One way or the other the self-balancing mechanism will insinuate itself into your gameplay. Making unbalanced Races/Powers makes the highs and lows of the game more dramatic and fun, IMO.

So Phenexian criticizes you? His ideas fall prey to some of the same faults he mentioned in yours. (Bland? Try his Troglodytes.) I think anyone who has made it this far down the column of ideas has come to the realization that there's a lot of untested, novice garbage along the way. Sometimes brilliant ideas and lame ones come side-by-side from the same contributor, too. So what do you do? Print & play the ideas you like, forget about the rest!

Having said all that, here are my thoughts on your ideas...
I'm with you--I know I'm gonna love playing with the Unholy Creation power! Very cool that you don't have to enter the board with it (but you can, right?) All of a sudden it could just rise up off the board (abandoning its previously occupied territories, right?) and bludgeon its way through your opponents! Awesome. Death to the well-entrenched Trolls!!!
(And to be clear, it's all-or-nothing, right? You must use all of your tokens?)

I like the Pegasus idea, personally. I think it's a good way to draw reluctant girls into the game (when all they see to relate with is an Amazon.) In my experience, girls like to "be the girl" when they are first learning the game. Adding the 2-sided-coin power idea is original, and would totally make a difference in the choosing lineup in long-term play.

Lastly, I have been toying with the Flying Monkey idea myself. (Scarecrows and Tin-Men too.) So it was interesting to see what you did with it. I will try to play out your idea (it seems a little overpowered at 7/12). I haven't been able to come up with the hook for the F.M. yet. Maybe your Mountain Stronghold idea will do.

As for the merit of the ideas themselves, I think the Fighting Chickens is most appealing to me. It feels different enough from the Pygmies to not be redundant in the game. (Although there are a lot of ideas on this message board that have the "spawning" concept and the "special token in a region for one turn" concept. But as far as I can tell, yours is the first of these to actually have artwork! That makes it more than just an idea, IMO.)

I also like the Merchant Pigs big reward + big target= balance. Also the idea of being forced into decline (with your Sheep) is a pretty original one. I think it's well done.

I've gotta say that all of these ideas are out of step with the theme of Smallworld--that is, all races thus far being humanoid--but taken as a whole, as an "expansion" is a clever solution to the thematic problem. Watch out humanoids--somebody left open the gate! (You wouldn't hit a Rabbit would you?!)
This is like wrestling a girl. You don't wanna hurt them, but you don't wanna get your @$$ whooped either! Nice work.

Please tell me you designed the tokens too? Is there a way I can get something from you to print & play these?

I've seen some awesome ideas here and on BGG. In my effort to come up with some, I've wanted something really original, and not just a variation on an existing power/race.

For example, I thought of the idea of a race that gets to roll the die at the beginning of each turn and immediately take into hand the # of RTs corresponding to the die. This is interesting, but not altogether unique. What do you think of that idea?

Another idea I had that would be unique would be a race (or maybe power) that lets you go a second time during the round. For example, if you're the 3rd out of 5 players, you could take your normal turn and also take a turn after the 4th player. You'd have the option to declare your second turn right before another player begins to take his.

...In some ways this is very similar to Marauding, but I feel that it adds a slightly new strategic dynamic: deciding when it's best to take your second turn. Obviously numbers would have to be tuned down to balance the ability.

I've seen some awesome ideas here and on BGG. In my effort to come up with some, I've wanted something really original, and not just a variation on an existing power/race.

For example, I thought of the idea of a race that gets to roll the die at the beginning of each turn and immediately take into hand the # of RTs corresponding to the die. This is interesting, but not altogether unique. What do you think of that idea?

Not to take over Paolo's post, but since you brought it up, I actually have a fan race of my own posted over at BGG which is quite similar to what you are suggesting. Here's the link if you're interested:

Just discovered this cool game on my I-pad, and then went and bought the real deal. Wish they had multiple player and the bigger maps on the I-pad. Anyway, after getting all the expansions, and playing a few times, I came up with these power ideas and a race of Druids. Sorry if they resemble some already listed. I read through the whole thread and saw a few similar ones, but these are all different.

Mutant: (4) When the Race goes into Decline, after the player's turn comes again, the same Race evolves and comes out of Decline with restored numbers and a new Special Power (retaining his former Special Power as well). This power is chosen from the Random Stack starting from the top and going to a depth equal to a Die Roll ( Zero, One, Two, or Three deep). The Race may go into decline and mutate multiple times, but each time requires an additional turn to emerge from Declined status!

Noble: (5) The Race begins play in the Farmlands that contain the Great City. Any Race there is ousted by the Noble Race who have a -2 token advantage to overtake the Great City Farmland and gain a Fortress. One of the initially placed Tokens is crowned KING and gains the Crown marker, and is immune to Conquests in whatever Land it occupies. Any Active Race that is Conquested during the Noble Race's turn must pay Tribute of 1 Victory Point to the Noble Race's player.

Masonic: (5) For every TWO Mining Lands controlled, the Masonic builders may erect a Monument Token in any Land under their control that does not already have one during Redeployment. Monument Tokens are worth 1 bonus Victory Point to ANY Race that controls the Land for the rest of the game.

Teleporting: (5) When conquering Magic Lands the Race may do so with -1 Token. In addition, the Race may freely move between Lands containing the Magic symbol.

Religious: (2) At the end of each turn, place a Temple token in any controlled region. At the start of each subsequent turn gain one new convert Race Token (if available) per Temple token on the map.

Civilized: (5) At the end of each turn, place a City token in any controlled region. The Active Race may conquer Lands adjacent to City Regions with one less Token. In addition the City is Garrisoned and receives +1 Defense. Cities disappear when the Race goes into Decline.

Druids (5/10) Druids may conquer Forest Regions for one less token and may freely move between Forest Regions as if they were connected by tree portals. Druids place a Stonehenge monument in the first Forest conquered. It grants +1 Defense and +1 Victory point per turn to whoever controls it.

Power:
Rebel [4] (includes 8 Rebellion tokens)
When one of your regions is conquered, place one Rebellion token there. These tokens do not give a bonus to defense and are returned to the tray when going in-decline.
At the start of your turn, for each region on the board that has a Rebellion token and at most 1 race token, you may conquer it by returning that race token to the tray, placing one of your race tokens from the tray on that region and returning the Rebellion token to your hand.

Power:
Rebel [4] (includes 8 Rebellion tokens)
When one of your regions is conquered, place one Rebellion token there. These tokens do not give a bonus to defense and are returned to the tray when going in-decline.
At the start of your turn, for each region on the board that has a Rebellion token and at most 1 race token, you may conquer it by returning that race token to the tray, placing one of your race tokens from the tray on that region and returning the Rebellion token to your hand.

A defensive sorcerer power

This sounds a lot like the Gargoyles (as posted over at the Geek). Unless I am misreading your intent for the power?

I was given this game as a gift and have really grown to like it. I also received the Necromancer Island expansion. Regretfully I am not as thrilled with the expansion which has prompted me to try to turn Ghosts into a regular race. In keeping with the already provided Ghosts counters the rules for the Ghosts race is as follows:

Game play: Deploy Ghosts on an even turn (2, 4, 6, 8, [10]) from a border region. Ghosts conquer territories at a -2, at least one Ghosts counter is required to conquer a territory. Ghosts are always in decline and all in decline rules may apply. Ghosts may only attack active races, and may not attack races in decline including lost tribes nor empty spaces. Ghosts may benefit from special powers with which they are coupled. Opponent racial abilities (i.e. Goblins -1 attack for races in decline, Halflings hole in the ground, etc...) and special powers (i.e. heroic, catapult, etc...) apply to Ghosts. At the end of the player turn collect VC for each territory controlled by Ghosts. At the beginning of the Ghosts player turn on odd numbered turns (1, 3, 5, 7, [9]) collect all Ghosts counters and place them in the player hand (not the discard box) leaving empty spaces behind, to be used for distribution on a subsequent even number turn. When in decline, Ghosts do not count as a declining race, they are simply discarded. The Ghosts player previous declining race remains on the board. If Ghosts are the first race chosen, the player is left with no race in decline if they choose to decline Ghosts.

FAQ: Although ghosts may appear to be overly powerful, the owning player must be able to collect enough VC for 2 turns as his race is inactive on odd turns. Ghosts may be destroyed by other players thus diminishing the number of Ghosts available to the owning player for subsequent redeployment. A possible tactic by opponents is to place their races in decline immediately after Ghosts come on the board thus denying the Ghosts player live victims. Other tactics include stacking multiple race counters in regions immune to conquer (heroic, hole in the ground) or using other special abilities to prevent Ghosts attack (diplomatic). Since Ghosts must attack active races, they may be prevented from wrecking total havoc by intentionally keeping territories empty or populated by declining races, this includes border spaces denying Ghosts an entry point onto the map. Some powerful special ability combinations include Ware-Ghosts, Stout-Ghosts and Flying-Ghosts.

Here's some small Ideas I wrote, you might want to read them note for note...

I have always been drawn to modifying a game I thought flawed or adding content to games that are just wonderful and a great experience to play. My latest adventure in casual game design drew me to SW and SWU. It's simple rules and superior rules system in addition to its great variety makes it the perfect game to modify and add content. It's also great that DoW even encourage to add races and powers to the game.

When making up rules I try to keep simple and distance myself from elements that makes the game take even longer than it's supposed. It's also important to keep in mind the balance and either add a disadvantage of equal proportions or not delve into power creep.

Anyway, back on track: Here are some of my own rules I'm going to enforce on my fellow gaming community. I would be happy to receive any constructive criticism, feedback or any of your own ideas or designs. As you probably are about to find out, i'm very fond of reptiles and archaeosaurs...

Races:

Dinosaurs (6/11) - When going into decline, remove all dinosaur tokens from the board and be awarded 10 VPs, then place or move 2 fossil markers in up to two regions previously occupied by your dinosaurs the same turn. Only one fossil marker may be placed in each region. Regions with fossil markers in them grant an additional 1Vp if occupied.

"As 83% of all human fatalities last year were raptor related, raptor survival is essentially the most important knowledge of this day." - Though not obviously anthropomorphised, dinosaurs can make a fitting addition to the other races of smallworld. The general idea is that they will also dissappear mysteriously from the board as they did here on earth (though not as sudden or mysteriously).

Djinn / Genies (5/12) - During redeployment, roll the reinforcement dice for each mystic crystals or magic region you control. For each of the dice symbols shown you may either chose to deploy a djinn token and lose one victory coin, or gain one victory coin.

"Djinns love creating chaos and misery and do so by giving lesser races what their hearts desire." - I thought "Chaotic wishful magic" when I designed these. I like how you have to choose wether to pay for new tokens or gain gold. I'm still not sure on the initial token number though. I've also broken my traditional rule of "not too many dice rolls." But I figured djinn would be the sole race except will-o-wisps to bring in some extra luck in the game.

Gators / Crocodilemen (4/9) - Needs one less token to conquest any swamp or region adjacent to a swamp. Gain 1 additional Victory coin for each of your opponents tokens removed when conquering these regions.

"Because Smallworld also needs new wallets!" - The first race of my dark fantasy expansion, while the Lizardmen of SWU were cute ant skittish, these are portrayed as brutish and hungry. The general idea were that they should be ruthless around swamps and almost as good as the Flames.

"Maybe if we feed it, it will go away?" - Don't let the gremlins get into contact with water, it will end badly. In addition I thought prohibiting them from using relics and such would is just a little detail helping with balance and adding some fun variation as well as binding (but not limiting) them to SWU

Nephilim/Behemoths (3/8) - Each token counts as two for the purposes of conquest and defense.

"Half godly beings, not necessarily half-human, possessing great strength, power and sexappeal" - I've been experimenting, like so many others, with the count as two tokens. balancing is a bit harder as if you count the tokens proportional to strength (in conquest and defense), you have to account that you can have no fewer than two (converted) tokens per region. Still I think a number of 5-8 tokens is the most balanced.

Newtkin / Newtmen (7/12) - For conquest purposes, your Newtkin count all swamps and mud pits as adjacent to the regions they already occupy. For your first conquest, you must enter the board through a swamp or mud pit.

"Newts are cute - first page of my rhyme and lifes legacy book" - A new name for these would be nice as both Newtmen and Newtkin feels to generic. These mud dwelling amphibians are basically Spiderines with swamps instead of chasms.

Scarabees (6/11) - Place a Den counter in the first region you conquer. This region is now immune until the Scarabees goes into decline. After going into decline, you keep all your tokens on the board and may be redeployed each turn as normal, but may not conquest any more regions. If the region containing the den is conquered, remove all Scarabee tokens from the board.

Scavenging insects which can still be redeployed after declination. Their den first functions as their stronghold, then their weak spot after decline. Still, it feels like something is missing, maybe I should add more Scarabee tokens or add a "-1 when conquering a region adjacent to your den" - like cultists already have but more stationary...

Seraphim (1/6) - (-3) to conquest any region. Regions occupied by seraphim are immune to conquest as long as they are not in decline.

These angels that are basically the opposite of white ladies, I can't say they have been play tested enough and needs some additional tweaking.

Snakemen (8/13) - Snakemen need an additional token to conquer a region. Furthermore, place a Great Serpent token in the first region you conquer. To move the Great serpent, you must return one of your Snakeman tokens back to the tray. The Great Serpent can conquest alone and will always conquer a region regardless of how many defending tokens it includes. Furthermore, when the enemy conquers one of your Snakemens Regions, keep all your Snakemen tokens in hand for redeployment at the end of the current player's turn, rather than discarding 1 back in the storage tray.

"I have had it with these smallaworldling snakes on this smallaworldling plane of existance!" - These Immortal Snakemen that has to use additional race tokens to conquer a region. Though their few numbers would usually give them a hard time, their Great Serpent offer some consolation. But its use at the cost of Snakemen tokens going back into the tray.

My main source of inspiration for the Snakemen was the bloody aztec culture and Quetzalcoatl.

Testudin / Turtlemen (4/9) - During Redeployment place one swamp fortress in a swamp or mud pit you control. Each swamp fortress boosts the region defense by +1 and adds one testudo token to your hand at end of turn. The fortresses are removed when the Testudin go into decline. A region cannot contain more than one Swamp Fortress,

"As a kid I had a turtle, I adored it until I found out how boring it was..." Though they may seem like a mix between mudmen and trolls, I think them more as having the "Fortified" power but instead of gaining victory coins, they gain tokens.

Special Powers:

Transdimentional (3) - During redeployment, you may redeploy units in regions you abandoned previously during your turn.

"Because some creatures can be in two places at once, transdimensional buggers never ever get late when picking up their kids at daycare..." - Allows a race to use its tokens to its fullest potential, abandoning regions to conquer others then later redeploying a token in the same region, scoring additional victory coins when scoring.

"Once you've gone dark, you'll never go bark, or something like that..." - Anyway, I wanted Chasms to play a little bigger part for non-flame non-Spiderine races.

Artistic (5) - Draw at random relic or popular place and place it in the first zone you conquer.

It would not surprise me if we see something simple like this in the future, i.e more relic related powers and races. Personally I'm not very fond of relics as they are new to me.

"I only made this one to fill up some space, still it has potential." This ability is all about control and tearing down those big piles of tokens and relics.

Harvester (4) - Mushroom Forests and Forests grants an extra victory coin when conquered and are conquered at one less token than usual.

"Because Harvester Shrooms would be so much fun..." I like the idea of mediocre vs bad powers instead of godlike vs mediocre, and this is supposed to be an example of a "not optimal, but still useful" power.

Depressed (5) - You must go In Decline at the end of a regular turn of conquests, after scoring, instead of spending an entire turn going into decline. Note that it is not optional.

Almost the same as stout, but its not optional, while stout usually is one of the most sought after power in the games I play, I think this one is a nice variation to it.

Retarded (4) - You need one extra token to conquer each region but gain 1 extra victory coin for each region you own.

I don't know if the name is insulting, but might as well be called "Fumbly" och "Foolish", but I'm reluctant to change it as retarded flames or will-o-wisps would be so much fun...

Big Nosed (3) - Fields and Hills grant you an additional +1 Victory Coin, but you may no longer conquer Swamps

Playing around with anatomical changes, I guess nobody have ever heard of big-nosed elves? Anyway, with this I further experiment with region limitations, which may prove to be a great advantage for you and your opponent(s)

The first one is very original and the racial ability has been mentioned countless times.

Gorgons (6/11): Gorgons have the much dreaded stone gaze. when conquering a region they kill one unit (as standart) and turn a second one into stone. When attacking elves the first token survives and the second token (if any) is turned to stone.

Balance: I chose to give the Gorgons 6 units. That seemed overpowered to me in the start but they don't get many wictory pionts. Their ability is also best if another race comes into play and their tokens are stakked. Before a decline the ability is useles. You also need at least four tokens to be effektive with the ability.

The second race is my favorite. I hope someone can make the artwork for it.

Golems (5/10) The golems have 5 DIFFERENT units, the gold, steel, iron, rock and mirror golem. The first is the gold golem. It dobbles the victory coins gained from the area it is placed in. Then there is the steel golem. It counts dobble in defense. The iron golem counts dobble in attack. The rock golem can move when you are in decline using the reinforcement die. The mirror golem can dublicate any of the other golems but first when that golem is destroid. The abilities do not disappear when you go into decline. The last five tokens are standard mud golems. They work as normal race tokens.

Notes: I havn't been thinking to much on balancing. It seemed very defficult with all those abilities at once. I think five units is best. It might be a bit overpowered if they keep their abilities in decline so that can be changed so they don't. I havn't played with them myself but i would love to. This race can do anything. It can be a conquering or defensive race. It can stay alive for a long time or go fast into decline. It is the special power that defines the best use of them.

Here's two that we've begun testing out:
race:
Ghost(2/7)-Ghost may ignore active races when making conquest. Active races are not kicked out of any area conquered by ghost, instead the cohabit.
Power badge:
Trap-Mast(5)-You have 5 trap badges that are identical on back on front four are blank and one has an explosion. At the end of each turn of conquest you deploy the trap tokens, face-down, to your regions, with a max of one per region. Whenever one of your regions is conquered flip over the trap token. If it is blank nothing happens, but if the explosion is revealed the conquering player must put 3 troops back in the tray. Once in decline any traps out remain there until the region is conquered or abandoned.

We originally tried ghost @(4/9), but were way too powerful, we also tried trap master as having two traps, one worth 5 and one worth 1 and three blanks, but that seemed to strong during the early deployment.

I've been playing for a month or so now, I got so addicted to this game, my girlfriend and I came up with some race powers. Without looking at this thread we came up with some ideas that people have already posted, I'll list those anyway just don't say I'm stealing ideas.

Races:

Changelings (6/11) - At the start of your turn pick an active race and get its power until the start of your next turn.

Scorpions (6/11) - When an active scorpion region is conquered the enemy receives a poison token. For the rest of the turn they conquer all regions at +1 token. Poison counters are cumulative and dissapear at the end of that player's turn.
**This hasn't been playtested and may need to be adjusted to (5/10)

Phoenix (5/10) - When a phoenix region is conquered all units withdraw. This power continues when in decline.

Sirens (6/11) - Whenever an opponent starts his/her turn with a region adjacent to an active siren the siren player picks their first conquest of that turn. They can not use the reinforcement die on this conquest (no forcing a last conquest immedietly).

I've been playing for a month or so now, I got so addicted to this game, my girlfriend and I came up with some race powers. Without looking at this thread we came up with some ideas that people have already posted, I'll list those anyway just don't say I'm stealing ideas.

Races:

Changelings (6/11) - At the start of your turn pick an active race and get its power until the start of your next turn.

Scorpions (6/11) - When an active scorpion region is conquered the enemy receives a poison token. For the rest of the turn they conquer all regions at +1 token. Poison counters are cumulative and dissapear at the end of that player's turn.
**This hasn't been playtested and may need to be adjusted to (5/10)

Phoenix (5/10) - When a phoenix region is conquered all units withdraw. This power continues when in decline.

Sirens (6/11) - Whenever an opponent starts his/her turn with a region adjacent to an active siren the siren player picks their first conquest of that turn. They can not use the reinforcement die on this conquest (no forcing a last conquest immedietly).

Thoughts? feedback? I'd love to hear some.

Can you clarify Phoenix?

I quite like Siren. Definitely adds a different aspect to the game.

I had a similar idea as your Medusas, but I made it a power and called it Cannibal.

I had a similar idea to Poisonous, only calling it "Spiteful" -- same effect, with the attacker losing a token as well, with the same number of troops (4) as well...

And also.. may have been mentioned elsewhere under a different name, but...

Guerrilla (4): Whenever one of your Regions is attacked, roll the reinforcement die; the result is added to the number of troops your attacker requires to conquer the region; if he or she cannot commit enough troops to meet this new number, the attack is rebuffed completely (barring the last conquest of a turn / the reinforcement die)

Zombies (3): for each region you conquer, place a Brains Tile in the region. On you next turn, for each Brain remaining on the board, take an extra unit out of the tray (max 15). If a region with a brain is conquered, that conquering player gets no advantage other than preventing you from gaining a reinforcement.

Experiments (13): Start with many tokens, but each turn one of your Experiments is killed by cellular degradation.

Implings (6): Choose 2 or 3 farmland regions after picking up Implings. Place two crop circle tiles (three on 4 and 5 player boards) and place them on these regions. While conquering, these regions are considered adjacent for the Implings.

Powers:

Stonewall (2): Each region you own has +1 defense.

Magnetic (3): Each region you own on or surrounding a mine earns you +1 points.

Ascending (5): When in decline, you may choose to abandon one region per turn to earn +3 points.

Race Name: SPELLBINDER or SPELLWEAVER (6/12): Once per turn, your SPELLWEAVERS may copy the power on top of the stack and add it to your race/power combo. Do not add the additional tokens. The power is disabled at the end of your turn.

Power Name CONJURING (3): Once per turn, your active race may copy the power on top of the stack and add it to race/power combo. Do not add the additional tokens. The copied power is disabled at the end of your turn.

Note: If SEAFARING is copied, remove your tokens from any water region AFTER SCORING, and place them into your hand until the beginning of your next turn.

Looting (4) - At the end of your turn, you may collect 1 victory coin for each of your opponent's In Decline conquered regions. If you have more than one opponent then you must pick one. The opponent you choose can change from turn to turn.

Yes, I know this is a ton of races. Nothing to get worked up about if you don't like them-- they're just options and ideas. There are this many because a friend and I sat out with the express goal of designing enough new races to have a completely custom game of Small World. It was no small amount of effort and so I've decided to share the work.

Some caveats: my playgroup has a preference for racial abilities that include unique mechanics or tokens, so there are quite a few of those, as well as a number of new uses of the reinforcement die (which our group also likes). There is also a prejudice against races with a low number of starting tokens (3 or less). Lastly, my wife and her friends love the game but often bemoan the lack of pretty girls to be, so I endeavored to create as many female races as I could think of.

There's no art or any such yet; we're still in the phase of substitution playtesting as there are quite a few to go through. Most of these races have received some amount of testing and balance. I'm hoping for some feedback on which of these (if any) are the clear standouts, which deserve to die, any unintentionally broken or useless mechanics, balance suggestions, etc.

There were a handful more but several were too similar to races I already saw posted, so I have removed them. I'm sure there may still be similarities in what remains, so apologies there if so. These thirty-six races were created by me. A friend created another ten races, which I will include in a separate post.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, all abilities cease in decline, and all conquests require a minimum of one race token.

(With a few edits made with the help of the good folks over at BoardGameGeek):

-Unicorns: While Unicorns are in play, your in-decline race(s) take one additional token to conquer. Unicorns occupying a forest region take one extra token to conquer. 6/11.

-Gorgons: When Gorgons conquer a region, place all conquered race tokens on the stone counter, rather than discarding one to the tray and returning the rest to that race's player. These units have been turned to stone. If another player conquers a Gorgon-controlled region and has tokens on the stone counter, he may take one back into hand. If, when the gorgons go into decline, there are tokens on the stone counter belonging to an active race, return those tokens immediately to their owner's hand. 5/10.

Comments: Designed as an active race killer as we feel the game is too short on these; mechanic is very potent and is still being refined.

-Druids: During troop redeployment, for each forest region you control, take one treant token into hand (maximum 3 total treants). Treants may be used as normal race tokens to conquer but count double for purposes of defense. Treants may not hold territory alone. If a region containing treants is conquered, they are discarded, in addition to one druid token. 5/10.

-Harpies: During your redeployment phase, place a Nest token in a region you control. The Nest is removed if conquered. If, at the beginning of your next turn, you still control this Nest, remove the nest token and take 3 harpy tokens into hand from the tray. 5/17.

-Demons: When Demons are selected, place a Portal token on any region you can inhabit. Demons enter the board through this portal, conquering this region as if empty. At the beginning of each following turn, you may move the portal to another inhabitable region of your choice, conquering that region as if it were empty and adjacent to your own. 6/11.

-Minotaurs: During your first redeployment phase with this race, place a labyrinth token on a region you control. This token cannot be moved. The affected region is immune to conquest. At the beginning of each other player's turn, so long as the labyrinth is in play, that player must make a sacrifice of one race token by returning that token to the tray, or may instead pay a tribute of two coins to the Minotaur's player. The labyrinth is removed in decline. 4/9.

-Warlocks: So long as you control a magic region at the end of your turn, you may remove one token of your choice from play at the end of each turn. This may be a race token, defensive structure, relic, or any other NON-IMMUNE token (cannot be the dragon, queen, etc.). 6/11.

-Ice Witches: When Ice Witches are selected, place an ice storm token on a region of your choice. At the beginning of each following turn, you may move the storm by one space, or two if the first space into which the storm moves is empty. Any race tokens in a space occupied by the ice storm are removed from the board as if conquered (one goes into the tray, the rest are returned to the owning player). The ice storm cannot hold territory and has no effect on Ice Witch tokens. 5/10.

-Sirens: When Sirens go into decline, all other active races in play must also immediately go into decline on their player's next turn. If a player does not currently have an active race, he is unaffected. 6/11.

Comments: Concept is that men follow them to their doom. Issues in play as the feeling seems to be that being forced to decline is aggravating. Suggestions?

-Banshee: Each time Banshees conquer a region with more than one defender, roll the conquest die. That many additional units are sent to the tray, discarded. 6/11.

-Djinn: During your scoring phase, roll the conquest die. Receive a number of bonus coins equal to the result. If the result is a three, you may roll again, adding the results. 5/10.

-Enchantresses: Gain an enchantment token for each magic region you control during your scoring phase (max 2). During any player's turn, discard one enchantment token to declare the next region that that player must attempt to conquer, EXCLUDING his own active or in-decline regions. If the conquest is impossible, even with the reinforcement die, then the region cannot be selected. 5/10.

-Drakes: Once per turn during your conquest phase, Drakes may breathe fire in a ranged attack. Select a region adjacent to one you control, roll the conquest die, and destroy that many units in the selected region (send them to the tray). 6/11.

-Angels: Instead of going into the tray, angel tokens lost by conquest are set aside by the Angel player. On the turn that Angels go into decline (but prior to removing any units), take 3 bonus race tokens from the tray, combine these with the tokens previously set aside, and take one final conquest phase with these units. For each region conquered during this bonus phase, collect 1 extra coin. Then, remove all but one token per territory and decline as normal. 7/15.

Comments: A bit complicated, notion is of avenging angels, calling upon the heavenly host, etc.

-Phoenixes: Phoenix tokens that would be sent to the tray due to conquest are instead put on the egg counter. During the Phoenix player's redeployment phase, take any race tokens on the egg counter into hand, and also take one bonus coin from the bank for each such token. 6/11.

-Chimera: Chimera may make one conquest during each other player's turn, after that player has completed conquest actions but prior to scoring or redeployment. This conquest must use tokens from the Chimera player's hand (not allocated for defense on the player's last redeployment), and it may not use the reinforcement die. The Chimera player may redeploy after this conquest. 6/11.

Comments: Many heads, many opportunities. A bit complicated again, looking for a way to simplify. Having to keep tokens back makes the race risk-reward.

-Griffons: On the turn they enter play, Griffons conquer all regions for one less token, and score one bonus coin per region conquered. On following turns, they both score and conquer as normal. 7/12.

-Dryads: Dryads treat all forests as adjacent and may roll the reinforcement die to conquer regions adjacent to a forest they control. 4/9.

-Fates: All conquest die rolls against tokens owned by the Fate's player are treated as a zero. All conquest die rolls by the Fate's player resulting in a zero are treated as a one. 6/11.

-Traders: Generate a number of bonus coins during your scoring phase each turn equal to the number of turns the Traders have been active this game. 6/11.

-Centaurs: Make your first conquest each turn as normal. For each subsequent conquest, so long as it is adjacent to the conquest made IMMEDIATELY PRIOR, conquer these regions at one less token for the first such region, and two less tokens for each subsequent region. 6/11.

Comments: Trying to represent the notion of a charge, building power as it goes.

-Summoners: A player may select and play a new race on the same turn that his Summoners go into decline, and all Summoners remain on the board when the race goes into decline. 6/11.

Comments: The idea is that they are "Summoning" their replacement race.

-Dragons: When Dragons enter play, all other players lose their next turn. These players make no conquests, may not decline, select a race, or redeploy, but still score as normal. 5/10.

Comments: Thematically like the idea that the impact is felt when Dragons show up on the scene. The problem is that most people don't seem to find losing a turn any fun at all.

-Sellswords: During redeployment, you may spend one coin to take one Sellsword token to hand from the tray, to a maximum of three tokens per turn. 7/16.

-Imps: Imps conquer active races for two tokens more. 11/16.

-Wraiths: Race tokens are not added to a region's defense versus wraiths. However, no tokens conquered by wraiths are ever sent into the tray. All are instead given back to that race's player. 6/11.

-Necromancers: When Necromancers conquer a region containing an in-decline race or Lost Tribe token, gain two minion tokens. Minion tokens can be used as race tokens to augment an attack, but any assigned are lost after each such conquest. Minions cannot hold or defend territory. (MAX: 8 minions). 5/10.

-Nymphs: Any time a player attempts to conquer a Nymph region, whether active or in decline, he must roll the conquest die. This is separate from any roll of the conquest die required to conquer the region. If the result is a zero, the conquest fails, and the attacking units are set aside, unable to be used again for conquest this turn. They may, however be allocated for defense during redeployment. 4/9.

Comments: A callback to D&D style Nymphs, too beguiling to destroy.

-Gargoyles: Gargoyles are immune to the negative effects of Relics and Popular Places, and conquer regions containing them for two less. 6/11.

-Golems: Golems count double for attack and defense and are immune to the conquest die (it cannot be used against them). 2/7.

-Monks: When Monks conquer a region, the Monk player may elect to let the conquered player return all tokens to hand (not discarding one into the tray as usual) in exchange for 1 coin from the the other player. 6/11.

Comments: Mercy brings them closer to their goals. Grateful unit donates a token.

-Sphinxes: When a Sphinx region is conquered by another race, place a Riddle token there (max 5). Sphinxes conquer regions with a riddle token for two less. If Sphinxes conquer a region containing a riddle token, remove the token from the region. 5/10.

-Succubi: Once per turn, you may make a conquest using ANOTHER PLAYER'S ACTIVE RACE TOKENS. These tokens must come from a single region that player controls and must follow adjacency rules from their original region, though you may combine them with non-adjacent Succubus tokens to make the conquest. During your redeployment phase, return the tokens to their original player's hand (a Succubus token must be deployed in that region to control it). The Succubus player counts as having conquered this region for bonus scoring purposes (Ransacking, etc.). 5/10.

Comments: There are mechanically simpler ways to achieve a similar effect, so this one is mostly thematic.

-Wyverns: When Wyverns conquer a region, give the conquered player a poison counter (max 1 per player). Any player who has a poison counter during his redeployment phase must discard an additional race token (from the board if necessary) at this time, as well as roll the reinforcement die. If the result is a zero, he retains the poison counter. If it is not, he discards it. 5/10.

-Bandits: Bandits may make their first conquest each turn as if the region was empty. 7/12.

-Loremasters: When Loremasters are your in decline race, your active race conquers all regions for one less token. 5/10.

-Unicorns: While Unicorns are in play, your in-decline race(s) take one additional token to conquer. Unicorns occupying a forest region take one extra token to conquer. 6/11.

Comments: I like this. There are too few mechanics that combines you active and your in decline race in different ways. But I think the help-your-decline-race is sufficient as a power; they dont need extra protection.

-Gorgons: When Gorgons conquer a region, place all conquered race tokens on the stone counter, rather than discarding one to the tray and returning the rest to that race's player. These units have been turned to stone. If another player conquers a Gorgon-controlled region and has tokens on the stone counter, he may take one back into hand. If, when the gorgons go into decline, there are tokens on the stone counter belonging to an active race, return those tokens immediately to their owner's hand. 5/10.

Comments: Too powerful I think, but I like the new mechanic as well. Maybe if you reduce the token placed on the stone counter to one per conquered region it might work. However, I have seen several Gorgon/Medusa powers, but I would like to see a new twist on it: Every time a region with Gorgons is conquered, the attacking race must replace one of its race tokens in that region to an in decline one. This token is turned to stone (in a Smallworld way) and may never become active again. However, it still counts as a race token and the player that owns it may redeploy troops to this region later on if he/she wishes. In all other way (regarding its race power for example) the token turned to stone counts as an normal in decline race token of its race.

-Minotaurs: During your first redeployment phase with this race, place a labyrinth token on a region you control. This token cannot be moved. The affected region is immune to conquest. At the beginning of each other player's turn, so long as the labyrinth is in play, that player must make a sacrifice of one race token by returning that token to the tray, or may instead pay a tribute of two coins to the Minotaur's player. The labyrinth is removed in decline. 4/9.

Comments: Nice idea, but way to strong. In a five player game you, unconditionally, earn up to 8 coins a round, or make everyone else lose one token. But the labyrinth-sacrifice idea is good in its fundamentals. Maybe the labyrinth might work as a new Popular Place-token? Or a special power?
I would also like to see some more mechanics that could backfire. The minotaur-power (if you make it a special power) could read: Place your labyrinth in one of your regions. This region becomes immune. You have to conquer one region inhabiting a (active) race tokens every round. The token normally killed in this conquer is, so to speak, captured and given to the Minotaur as a sacrifice. You get 3vp for the active race sacrifice and you can only make one sacrifice each round. If you cant give any other sacrifice, you must keep the minotaur contempt with a sacrifice of your own race (one race token to the tray). This self sacrifice gives no bonus points.

Dendroids(5/10): U need 1 Dendroid token less to conquer any region adjacent to a Forrest Region they occupy. A minimum of 1 token is still required. They don't receive defense bonus from Mountain Regions ( other races can conquer them as normal ). When going into decline they receive defense bonus (+1) in regions they occupy ( except mountains ).

Dragonkins(4-5/10): Their number depends on the number of players in the game ( 2 or 3 players - 4 tokens; 4 or 5 players - 5 tokens ). At the end of your turn u receive additional 1 victory point per occupied region for each active race whose region u have successfully conquered this turn. ( If in this turn you've conquered regions belonging to 2 races you receive 3 victory coins per occupied region ). However, if you haven't conquered any region of active races you don't receive ANY victory coins from your regions ( you may still receive victory points form your special powers eg. ALCHEMIST, but u receive 1 victory coin per region less from such special powers as: MERCHANT, FOREST, HILL, etc. )

Races
Curmudgeon (13/20) (was going to use troglodyte but it seems taken)
Ignore power assigned to Curmudgeon. Only the base units assigned by Power are taken. Curmudgeons are stupid but numerous. Example: Spiritual Curmudgeons still decline normally and are counted as a regular in decline race.

Balance: Like ratlings this race is numerous, however they cannot use their special power. This gives a random element to play where a specific power will be ignored. Players who always choose a specific power will need to change up their battle plan as it is rendered obsolete.

Harpies (6/12)
Harpies attack in decline races at 1 less token than usual. A minimum of 1 token is still required to conquer the region.

Balance: Bonus is only effective if there is already an in decline race present. While it is usually best to attack an active race and force it into decline thus eliminating all of the other in decline tokens in one swoop, this race enjoys feasting on the dead so to speak. Picking at another player's in decline race will make Harpies a target as in decline races are a large source of income. Also this is an effective race to counter in decline Ghouls.

Powers
Blackguard (3)
Once per opponent per turn, on opponents turn they may pay Blackguard player 1 victory point to remove one non-Blackguard active race token and return it to tray. This counts as an attack by the Blackguard player. Do not place a blackguard player token in this spot.

Balance: Opponents are losing victory points to another player in order to make a gain. This ability changes value based on other players, in a 2 player game this is useless but a 5 player game can turn this power into a big money maker. Of course if players are unwilling to pay (say Blackguard player is currently winning) this ability does nothing. Essentially this power is a "know when to pick it" ability. A player who can con others into a grudge match can make a killing. It is a double edged sword though; an opponent can use your ability as a small short term loss for a big long term gain.

Flanking (4)
Flanking allows player to attack any region adjacent to 2 or more of his/her regions at one less token than usual. A minimum of one token is still required to conquer the region.

Balance: This ability helps to spread your empire however it is limiting when the player wants to move in a straight line to attain a specific region. Furthermore the player's first two attacks onto the board must be made without the power bonus.

Master of fate (0)
When selecting master of fate adjust the available races as normally then select an uncovered power from the power deck and assign to your race. Do not take base units assigned to this new power. (Spare units assigned as a power bonus are still available)

Balance: Allows a player to min/max their race with whichever power they think suits it best. (Diplomatic skeletons or Spiritual Ghouls) However this isn't as powerful as if this exact combo was drawn normally. A larger issue is other players will react knowing the player has chosen this specific ability for a reason. It really paints a big target on your back. Depending on when this power comes up and which race it gets assigned to it might be awesome or useless. Remember which powers have been used.

Secret defense (4)
Take two additional race tokens and set aside. When the race is a target of attack player may choose to add these tokens to that region for defense. Remove these tokens back to your hand at the start of your next turn. Units may not be used for attack.

Balance: Extra defense that can be used at any time is powerful however it may only be used once per turn so it should be applied strategically. Launching this secret defense in the wrong region might end with you losing a more valuable one; not launching it may end with no-one else attacking you.

Slaver (5)
When the Slaver player successfully attacks another active race they keep one token in hand and do not send any to the tray. This token may be sold back to the opponent for 1 victory point. When an active race goes into decline any tokens the Slaver holds are returned to the tray.

Balance: Drives the player to attack other races aggressively. Other players can opt to buy back units, but be careful of revenge attacks hurting the slavers. An effective counter to the elves.

Spineless (4)
Once per opponent per turn the player may remove all of his tokens from a region being attacked and replace them in an adjacent territory. Opposing player must follow through with the attack as if the units were still present. Power cannot be used if there are no adjacent regions for this active race.

Balance: Somewhat like the elves ability where there is no unit lost. However the units must be immediately redeployed to an adjacent region. Run away!

Sycophantic (5)
Player may choose to add units to another active race&#8217;s region. Units must be placed as if an attack has occurred however opponent does not lose or remove units. Opponent collects one less victory point for this region as long as Sycophantic race is still present. If region is successfully attacked by another player both races lose one token to tray. One token must remain present to keep this power active on this location. Remove Sycophantic race&#8217;s tokens from opponents regions when opponent or sycophantic race go into decline.

Balance: Allows player to double defenses on a tile and effectively ties up an opponents units on a potentially useless square. This forcing of the player to attack as usual uses up a lot of units though so it is best used in sparsely defended areas. Sycophantic power cannot be used on in decline races because no one sucks up to those on the way down.

I only got the game this weekend, but I've had a few thoughts already. I haven't playtested my ideas yet, so I have multiple ideas about how they might work.

RACEFae/Fair Folk (not sure precisely, but I think maybe 5 or less??/depends on how the power works): The basic idea of it is that the Fae take people (and turn them into changelings). Also, the basic power is like Amazons, but for defense, rather than offense; or like Sorcerers a little.
So: once per round, or once per round per opponent (possibly to be used once per opponent), the Fae can take someone, one token from an adjacent Region (owned by someone else--and might count for Lost Tribes). This person joins the ranks of the Fair Folk, but cannot be used for offense.
How this precisely works could go multiple ways. Either, there are 10 (or fewer) Fair Folk tokens, and the token that is taken joins the ranks of the Fair Folk, but can only be used for defense. There's a question, however, of being able to differentiate the Regions with "changelings" guarding them versus the Regions that belong to the "changelings'" former player. (Possibly by saying they cannot be left alone--the "changelings" cannot hold a Region for the Fae.)
Thus, the other options I've come up with include: having more tokens than the necessary 10-ish, so the "changelings" can be replaced with Fair Folk tokens; OR having "changeling" tokens in addition to Fair Folk tokens. The first option has the problem of "how to tell which Fae tokens are the former skeletons, and which are the actual Fae"; the second option gets rid of that problem altogether.
So, once I've playtested this, I'll report back. (Feel free to chip in with suggestions.)

SPECIAL POWERTime traveling (n = opponents (maybe +1)): The time travel tokens do not get used for regular play/offense. If it's a two-player game, the Time Travelers get one extra token; if it's a three-player game, the Time Traveler gets two, etc. (The maybe +1 is for ghouls In Decline.)
Once per opponent-turn, the Time Travelers get to "travel back in time" to save one of their Regions. The way this basically works is that, when a Region is being attacked, the Time Travelers place the Time Travel token on their Region, basically stopping the opponent from taking over this Region. I haven't quite worked out what happens to the opponent's tokens (possibly it works the same as being attacked: one token goes back to the tray, and the rest go into the player's hand for redeployment at the end of his turn).
Another possibility is that Time Traveling will get a special token (like Heroic or Dragon Master) (I'm fond of the concept of a blue police box, but anything would work), and a number of tokens to be used regularly. The Time Traveling token would be used in the same way as the previously-mentioned tokens--it would show up when a Region was being attacked, once per round, or once per round per opponent.
Again, this hasn't been playtested, and I would appreciate suggestions/comments/etc.

First off, I changed the old Dwarves a little to make them a bit more effective

Dwarves (4):
Default powers, but with two things added. First, I upped their token count a bit. Second, once in Decline, all tokens are kept on the board; this makes better use of the unique ability to continue generating bonus Mining Victory Coins in Decline by making those Mining regions harder to capture by opponents (although it's obvious not restricted to Mining regions and affects all Dwarfish regions).

Hypnotists (4 or 5):
Before each conquest attacking an opponent's region, roll the Reinforcement die. If you roll a two or three, you conquer the region with one token, and you keep the opponent's tokens in that region for yourself and treat them as regular Hypnotist tokens; this can be done successfully once per opponent per turn. However, when normally conquering, at least one token must be a normal Hypnotist and not one of the captured tokens. Once Hypnotists go into Decline, all captured tokens are returned if their race is still active; if their race is in decline or completely gone, they're discarded normally.

This original power I thought of is pretty basic and I have a feeling something similar already exists. As usual, I'd like to be informed if this is the case

Frail... (7):
You get a large number of tokens, but once in Decline each region occupied by the Frail Declined Race can be conquered for one less token.

Feedback is greatly appreciated! I'd especially like opinions on whether the Hypnotists should come with 4 or 5 tokens. I also would like opinions on whether Frail should come with more tokens, and if the Hypnotists should be able to use their power unlimited times due to the mere 33% chance of it succeeding.

New here and to the game in general but after seeing the blank races/powers I've been mulling this over and these are few ideas I had (please feel free to suggest anything if you feel these are too unbalanced or complicated, also I haven't read through every suggestion on here so apologies if my ideas are similar to other peoples):

Power - Industrious (6)

Player collects 4 'Factory' Tokens. Once per turn after conquest and prior to scoring a Factory may be placed on any conquered region and adds +1 coins to it's worth and additional +1 coins for every 3 race counters it shares the region with. Additional Factories can be built on the same turn at a cost of 6 coins per factory. Only 1 Factory can be placed per region and once placed cannot be moved. If a region with a Factory is conquered the Factory is lost.

(Thought this might be interesting in the need to carefully balance expansion with defending to maximise your scoring and not lose your factories. Not sure perhaps it would be worth adding the rule that factories remain after going into decline.)

Power - Channeling (1)

For every 2 magic regions owned add +1 to all attack and defence. Minimum of 1 token needed to conquer.

(Simple one but like the idea of having a magic focusing power where you would grow in strength with each conquest. Thought having a smaller starting number would balance this out a bit, might ruin it if it comes up with dwarves though as it could make conquering enough regions tough.)

Power - Punji Pit (4)

Player collects 2 Punji Pit tokens which they may place on any region during the redeployment phase, 1 per region. Any player attacking these regions must roll the reinforcement die. If they roll 2 or higher their troops fall victim to the pit and they lose an attacking race token. Attacking player can then choose to cease the attack and redeploy remaining tokens or attempt to reinforce to complete the attack. If the reinforcement fails another attacker is lost to the pit, the attack ends and remaining tokens are redeployed. Reinforcing this way may be done on any attack, not just the final one. Punji Pits remain after a race goes into decline until the region is conquered.

(This was basically me trying to come up with a fortification counter with a bit of a different flavour to it, liked the idea of making attacking a region a risk to the attacker rather than just more difficult by giving it a +1 defence)

Race - Molemen (3)

Once per turn per race when attacking a region, the Molemen may undermine any fortification in that region (Troll Lair, Encampment, Fortress) ignoring it's defensive bonus and removing it from play. The fortification is lost and is returned to the tray. Once in decline the Molemen burrow in and each in decline token counts as two tokens for defense of a region.

Race - Witchdoctors (4)

At the end of their turn the Witchdoctors can choose a player to curse. If the cursed player attacks any region owned by the witchdoctors, the witchdoctor rolls the reinforcement die. If the witchdoctors roll 3 the curse takes effect and the attack fails, the attacking tokens are redistributed at the end of the turn as normal. The curse ends at the start of the witchdoctor's next turn. Witchdoctors cannot curse once in decline.

Special power:
Skilled (0): When this power comes into play, discard it and draw 2 other random powers to attach to this race. Take number-of-tokens ONLY from these 2 new powers. You also ignore all abilities of this race, but the race is still represented by
their tokens and you are limited to their number.

(If above question was for "skilled" power)
Basically, when "skilled" power comes into play, you remove it and replace it with 2 other powers. You only use race for its tokens as representation on the board, and you use number of tokens combined from those 2 powers. You ignore everything else considering that race, even in-decline abilities.

Hello people, I'm pretty new to this community, but I was thinkering with a couple of ideas for new races/powers and this one just poped up into my mind. I'm not sure if someone made something like this before.

New Special Power: Scouting (4)

When this race arrives on the board they can conquer two different regions from two different edges of the board (or other areas if their racial power allows to do so). If they remove all their token and renter they can use this ability again.

Race:
Ooze: 2/7 (it may need to be lowered for balance reasons) you may conquer any region that you could normally conquer with only one race token. This includes mountains, troll lairs, etc.. Not hobbit holes, heroes, etc.

Power:
Metropolitan: At the end of your first reinforcement phase you place the metropolis token in any of your occupied territories. the territory with the metropolis gets +2 Defense, and every adjacent territory gets +1 defense for the controlling player. When in decline flip the metropolis token over to reveal the ruins token. The ruins token gives the occupying player +1 gold and is not removed from the board.

I came up with the Councilmen race which can form a council with another player's race, when the other member of the council collects victory coins the Councilmen get three of the lowest value coins.You get 7 Councilmen race tokens to start off with.